The present invention is related to U.S. Pat. No. 5,594,237, to Kulick et al., the disclosure of which is specifically incorporated herein by reference. Fiber to the Home (FTTH) is gaining a great deal of approval in the telecommunications industry, and accordingly there is a need to have a large quantity of optoelectronic devices to effect the communication to and from the home. However, as with most industries cost in the CATV industry is a great driver in the design of the components of the CATV market. While the devices used in the CATV industry may well have experience a reduction in cost, and an increase in performance, one of the major sources of cost in the industry is the required packaging of the devices. To this end packaging is often a substantial factor in the cost of the end product. To this end in the fiber to the home industry, where most packaging of photodetectors is in metal and particularly brass, the cost of the packaging is often proving to be prohibitive for large scale use, particularly to the individual home.
The standard practice for packaging of photodetectors and other optoelectronic devices has been to have a ceramic substrate having the device mounted thereon, and the ceramic substrate mounted in a metal, typically brass, housing. The various elements of the package are thereafter soldered and effect the package device thereby. The cost of the packaged device is driven generally by two factors, the cost of the individual parts and the cost of complex fabrication. The cost of the parts such as brass and a ceramic substrate, are generally much higher than alternatives, and the alignment as well as soldering techniques are generally complicated and thereby expensive. Accordingly what is needed is a packaged product that is lower in cost through the intrinsic cost of the individual parts, as well as lower in cost due to a much less complex packaging process.